Serenade of the Seas January 3, 2015 **FAMILY EDITION ~ PHOTO REVIEW**

[lemonade-sails]

Enjoying your review of the Seranade. We did this itinerary last April and loved the Serenade so much that we booked it again to do a repositioning this April, NOLA to Boston.. Love all your pictures and amazed at how well you vacation with all the kids. All seem to be having the time of your lives..:)

 

Hi! We loved Serenade too! It was the perfect size. I thought I would miss the Royal Promenade we had on Navigator but I didn't. I would love to sail her again.

 

The kids really did great. They enjoyed it so much!

[Folk Singer]

Great Review and Pics.

[lemonade-sails]

Great Review and Pics.

 

Thank you!

 

Hoping to have the rest of day 5 up here shortly.

[lemonade-sails]

Day 5 ~~ Continued

 

We made it into the port area and headed straight for the shops. The first stop was a large candy store.

 

 

There were so many things to look at, but we didn’t end up buying anything here.

 

 

 

Ewww.

 

The boys bought shark tooth necklaces here. They were the same or cheaper than the one in the gift shop on board so we made our purchases here.

 

Then we got in line to head back to the tender. There was a man handing out ice cold water as in the line.

 

We grabbed a spot on the top deck of the tender and headed back for Serenade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lemonade-sails]

Day 5 ~~ Continued

 

 

 

 

Almost back on board and a pirate ship sailed by us.

 

 

Once back on the ship we skirted around the towel return bin and sea pass scanners. We had not scanned our towels out, so I did not plan on returning them then. We returned them on the pool deck later that day. We headed back to our cabin and showered and dressed everyone.

 

We met in the aft section of the Windjammer for a late lunch at about 3pm.

 

 

After lunch we split up a bit and some of the little ones went down for a nap while some of us headed to the rock wall. It was finally open and we had time to try it out.

 

 

My oldest daughter in the pink shorts made it to the top.

 

When my turn came, the crew member working asked me if I had ever done the rock wall before. I told him I had done it on Navigator but I only made it half way and that he should feel free to help hoist me up a little bit.

 

I ended up making it to the top. Greatest feeling ever to ring that bell!!

 

One of the boys wanted to head to the kids pool so I took the baby down there to watch him and she fell asleep. Just off the back of the ship we could see two Carnival ships following us to Cozumel.

 

We headed back to the room and called maintenance because our safe suddenly didn’t work anymore. They came right away and quickly fixed it. I was able to get my big camera back out and plug in my phone as the battery had died - or so I thought.

 

By this time the kids were up so we all dressed for dinner and headed to the 6:45 production show in the theater.

 

 

This is not a very good picture, but the only one I have of the theater.

 

The show started a little late and I ended up taking the baby out because she didn’t want to sit still, so I only saw a few minutes of the show before everyone came out and we had to head to our MTD reservation for 7:15.

 

Tonight’s menu I believe was Basil. I ordered the crab cake and then the steak from the Classics menu. I finished with the chocolate sensation. It was all very good.

 

DH had the Orecchiette Pasta and found it very dry. I sampled a bit and agreed with him. It was like the noodles themselves were dry. Hard to explain but this was the one and only disappointment in the main dining room all week. Not bad when you consider how many dishes our party of 12 was served.

 

Toward the end of dinner tonight the baby was just restless so I ended up holding her on my lap.

 

 

This is how she ate her dessert also.

 

We headed back to the cabin to change out of our dinner clothes. DH headed for the gym with the oldest and I headed to Guest Services to find out why my oldest son received a letter notifying him of a charge to his account. I found out it was a minibar charge for a bottle of water. I was sure that the kids hadn’t used the minibar - especially for water since we had brought our own, but I wanted to confirm with him before I had her remove the charge. I found him in the gym with DH and confirmed that he had not opened any water although they had rearranged a few bottles to place one of their own in the fridge.

 

After returning to GS they removed the charge from his account. They were very polite about it. Later that night I checked the kids' fridge and found the bottle in the door of the fridge. I guess whoever checks the minibar did not look in the door. I placed it back into the main part of the fridge and we had no other issues.

 

I took the rest of the kids to the pool deck for the movie on the big screen. While we were waiting we discovered that the 3 year old’s shark tooth necklace was now toothless. He was in such despair that we retraced our steps to GS and back to the pool deck but came up empty. I convinced him that it was pretty cool to have a "toothless" shark tooth necklace, and he was happy again.

 

DH met us on the pool deck where we handed out glow sticks and bracelets and watched a movie while drinking hot chocolate. I ended up taking the youngest to bed before the end of the movie as it was pretty late at this time.

 

Up Next: Day 6

 

 

Edited January 19, 2015 by lemonade-sails

[lemonade-sails]

DAY 6 COZUMEL

 

This morning we were up at about 8:30am. Our plans for this day were to just step off the ship and do a bit of shopping in the port area before returning and spending time on board. There was an announcement about us docking late due to the wind.

 

We headed to “our spot” in the WJ aft section where we enjoyed another great breakfast with a view.

 

 

 

The grandparents decided to stay on board so we split up at this point. We weren’t planning to go on shore right away so we headed upstairs to play some mini golf. We thought we’d let the crowds disperse a bit because we were docked next to Oasis.

 

 

The golf course was pretty empty so we had a leisurely game.

 

 

 

Then we checked out the views.

 

 

 

[lemonade-sails]

Day 6 ~~ Continued

 

We walked around the ship a little bit . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then decided it was time to head off to check out Cozumel with the kids.

 

Edited January 19, 2015 by lemonade-sails

[LuCruise]

Such a cute picture of the baby on the mini golf course. :D

[lemonade-sails]

Day 6 ~~ Continued

 

We made our way down to deck 2. With all 10 of our sea pass cards scanned, we were off. Not sure I mentioned this before but getting on and off was really easy. We all had lanyards with the sea passes attached and I would have the baby’s on mine. The scanning was done with a hand held scanner - unlike our cruise 2 years ago when we had to hand our pass over for it to be inserted in a machine. I liked this way better. It was quicker. We simply held the barcode toward the crew member and were scanned off and on.

 

 

 

Parked next to Oasis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We came to the port entrance and there was a bit of a line. A lady was checking bags for fresh fruit. Behind her was a large garbage can filled with bananas and oranges and what have you. She actually stuck her (gloved) hand into my backpack and dug around a bit even after I told her I didn’t have any fruit. The only thing we brought off was an unopened bag of Fruit Loops from the WJ which was not a problem going in.

 

Next time I will not take a bag into Cozumel unless we are going on an excursion and leaving the port area. I didn’t need the bag with me just for doing some shopping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We bought several things here including t-shirts, a tote bag, a hat and some jewelry.

 

 

 

[dfa1]

As completely stupid as this sounds....my elbow made it into one of your pictures. :D I was by the pool when the kids were playing corn hole.

 

Glad you had a good time. We really enjoyed this cruise. It was our first time on Serenade and our first time sailing out of New Orleans. Great ship, great crew.

[lemonade-sails]

Day 6 ~~ Continued

 

We bummed around a little bit more

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But didn’t find anything else we were interested in. We made our way back to the port security area where they made me throw away my now open box of Fruit Loops. Not a big deal.

 

We made it through security and headed back to the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once back on board we went back to the cabin to change into our swimsuits and then headed for lunch in the WJ.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2015 by lemonade-sails

[lemonade-sails]

Such a cute picture of the baby on the mini golf course. :D

 

Thanks! I think she's looking at the yellow ball and trying to decide if she can hold all three or not . . . :)

[lemonade-sails]

As completely stupid as this sounds....my elbow made it into one of your pictures. :D I was by the pool when the kids were playing corn hole.

 

Glad you had a good time. We really enjoyed this cruise. It was our first time on Serenade and our first time sailing out of New Orleans. Great ship, great crew.

 

:D So glad you recognized yourself! Yes, I agree about the ship and crew. It was fabulous!

[lemonade-sails]

Day 6 ~~ Continued

 

After lunch we headed for the kids pool. The pool was pretty much empty today at 1:30pm - just like all of the other days we had been here.

 

 

This time the baby was interested in trying to put her brother’s shoes into the little shower.

 

 

 

DH, Grandpa and the oldest son went to Afternoon Trivia in the pub at 2 and when they returned, my daughter and I headed to the pub for a jewelry making class while DH watched the boys in the pool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our necklaces and bracelets were done we returned to the pool just in time for the water slide to be open.

 

The kids had a blast on the slide. I mentioned before that it’s pretty tame - even to the point where you may get stuck in the middle and have to push yourself, but they really enjoyed it.

 

Grandpa and the oldest son played mini golf again.

 

 

After a while we noticed that sail away was going to happen soon. We decided to get out of the pool and drop off our stuff at the cabin before heading down to deck 5.

 

 

One of the boys volunteered to carry the baby pool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We waited and waited on deck 5. When it was obvious we weren't going to leave on time I had to abandon my plans to catch sail away and take the little kids back to the room hoping for at least some kind of nap before the second formal night in the main dining room.

 

DH and the rest of the kids caught this picture of us leaving Cozumel.

 

 

Up Next: The rest of Day 6

 

 

Edited January 19, 2015 by lemonade-sails

[lemonade-sails]

Day 6 ~~ Continued

 

While the kids were napping I showered and got dressed for dinner. By the time I woke them up it was 6:30pm. I tried to get them dressed and they were pretty tired. We managed to get everyone ready and DH took some of the kids to see the beginning of the 6:45pm show.

 

The grandparents and I and four of the kids headed up to the dining room and sat down just as DH and the other four kids entered the dining room.

 

Tonight’s menu was Mojo. It was the second formal night and lobster was on the menu. DH and I ordered both the lobster and the prime rib. I know, I know! I did skip the dinner roll and wasn’t going to order an appetizer but “ceasar salad” escaped my lips when the waiter came by. :o

 

Everything food-wise tonight was great! I ate all of my two dinners and ordered the Baked Alaska for dessert. By the time it came though, the baby was done. She was just really restless. This was also the night that I looked to my left to see my 3 year old’s shoes waving in the air next to my head. He had apparently dropped one of this crayons under the table and dove to retrieve it. He came back up quickly all smiles. The baby was not making a scene or anything, but I decided to take her and the two other little ones out of the dining room after two bites of my dessert.

 

I returned to the room and got the little ones settled.

 

We found another friend waiting for us tonight.

 

 

 

DH took the oldest kids back to try and catch the end of the show as they thought the beginning was pretty good. I met them afterward and we looked at some of our photos in the photo gallery and shopped at the $10 sale.

 

We hung out on deck 8 at the centrum railing to catch the 70’s Disco Party but we didn’t find it that interesting so we returned to the rooms. DH went to hang out with the kids while I ordered some room service cheesecake and hot chocolate and tried to get the baby to sleep.

 

 

 

A few minutes later he is coming in the door saying “housekeeping” while I am behind the curtain in the room and scared me to death! I thought it was my room service delivery just coming in.

 

The ship was really rocking tonight and after the little ones had fallen asleep I had dessert and watched the Love and Marriage show on the television. The cheesecake was really good but I forgot to order milk for the hot chocolate so it was too watery.

 

 

We checked out the compass for the next day and went to bed trying to decide if we would eat our last dinner in the main dining room or the Windjammer. I love the main dining room, but after five nights, I felt like the little ones were over it. The dinner service is really long and it's tough for them - even with color books and distractions, to keep it together for that long.

 

Also, my phone was not charging in the stateroom. I tried several different cords and outlets. I was bummed that I would not be able to use it for pictures as it is easier to carry around than my DSLR, but I resigned to try and figure it out after we got home.

 

 

Up Next: Day 7

 

Edited January 19, 2015 by lemonade-sails

[lemonade-sails]

DAY 7 ~~ AT SEA

 

We woke up to our last full day on board at about 8:30am. We put on our swimsuits right away and headed up to the WJ for breakfast.

 

Again, we pretty much had the best seat in the back of the WJ and not many people there.

 

 

 

 

My 5 year old was ready for a fun-filled day at sea.

 

After breakfast we headed up to the kids pool area at about 9:45am but the water slide was not scheduled to open until 11am. We decided to go upstairs and check out the rock wall again, but the line was too long. I guess a lot of people waited until the last day to try it.

 

We decided to play mini golf instead while we waited for the slide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did a little bit of chair hogging. Not too much - and there were plenty of chairs next to the kids pool.

 

 

While we were waiting, I was holding the baby looking out over the slide.

 

 

When she decided to throw her plastic giraffe over the railing. It landed on the slide and came out at the bottom where we retrieved it. Not a big deal, but hilarious to all of her brothers.

 

When the slide finally opened we went down a few times but it was getting colder and we decided to pack it up and head back to the cabin. We showered and got dressed before heading to lunch in the WJ.

 

After lunch we went back to the cabin for naps for the little kids. This is when we heard an Alpha call on the ship channel.

 

While the kids were sleeping I started to pack. I packed pretty much through their whole nap. We had a lot of things to gather together.

 

After naptime we went up to the WJ by the ping pong tables and played cards together, then down to the “Win a Cruise” bingo in the Safari Club where we didn’t win :(. We headed back to the room to do some more packing and I tried to cancel our MTD reservations as we decided to take a more relaxed approach to our last night and dine in the WJ for dinner. I wasn’t able to get a hold of anyone so I went down to the desk on deck 5 to cancel them in person followed by a trip to Guest Services to have DH and my accounts closed out.

 

We headed to WJ for dinner where the atmosphere was relaxed and the food was excellent. Because of the cold/rain they had closed off the back open deck area so we sat inside. I had roast turkey and cranberries among many other things.

 

We tried to take a walk on the top deck but it was very cold - 45 - and windy so we headed to the WJ drink station and drank hot chocolate and played hearts with the deck of cards DH had purchased in the gift shop earlier. We played cards and ping pong and met quite a few very nice people who liked to talk about their past cruises with us.

 

I met a nice woman from Utah who was seeing our kids and missing her own. She was excited to get home to them.

 

DH and I wanted to get the kids to bed and make it to the adult comedy show that night but it just wasn’t going to happen. We still had a ton of packing to do in order to get our bags in the hall by 11pm. and we didn’t want to take the chance and show up late and be called out by the comedians.

 

The kids were up late anyway as they were talking about the week that had gone by so fast and saying “goodbye” to the cruise already.

 

Up Next: Disembarking and the Parking Lot Fiasco

 

 

Edited January 19, 2015 by lemonade-sails

[mickev99]

You are the only person that I have seen that has done the jewelry making class. Did you like it? How much did it cost? Was it wire jewelry, or just elastic with beads? Did you think it was worth it? Were there many other children or was it mostly adults? I have 10,10, and 12 year old girls that I think would enjoy it, they are very crafty, but I see that yours is older, so not sure if it's appropriate for them. Thanks for any input.

[lemonade-sails]

DAY 8 ~~ NEW ORLEANS

 

Today began at 4 am. I got up and showered and and dressed before the baby woke up. I checked the ship channel to find that we were getting closer to New Orleans and that it was only 39° out there. Brrrrrrr!

 

I went back to bed around 5 am and then got up for the day at 6 am. I made the usual calls to the other rooms to get everyone up and set a breakfast meeting time for 6:30am

 

We left our bags in the rooms and headed for our last meal in the WJ.

 

It was a bit crowded but we found two tables near each other with one at the window. The outside seating was closed off when we arrived. They opened it later due to crowding.

 

 

It was really cool to watch the city slide by over bacon and waffles.

 

 

The kids were sad about having to say goodbye to the Serenade.

 

We finished our breakfast and headed back to the room to pick up our carry on bags and make a final check of the rooms. Our luggage tag hadn't been called yet but we had zero desire to sit in the closed-in theater so we sat in the solarium padded loungers for awhile at about 8am.

 

 

 

 

 

Once back in the elevator lobby we saw on the screen that our number had been called so we proceeded to deck 5 for our final “bing” and we were off the ship at 8:30am.

 

I took took the stroller in the elevator while the rest went down the escalator. I met them in the baggage claim area where we only had 8 of our 9 bags. A bit of panic set in in and in and I quickly headed down the side of the line with DH scanning all of the bags that were leaving with people. Not finding It we ended up at the lost luggage place where it was sitting all alone and lonely without it's luggage tag.

 

We were so glad to have it back, but there was no time to celebrate as I had to quickly grab a new customs form - couldn’t find the one I had already filled out - and fill it out fast. As we approached the customs area, they waved us to a new line and we went right through. They didn’t ask for any identification or anything. DH simply handed him our form and we walked on through.

 

We were at the parking lot by 9am and to the van.

 

 

We loaded back up and attempted to leave. I had the pink square of paper we had received when we arrived a week ago. However, it wasn’t what we needed to leave. Apparently we had been given a small blue ticket and a small green ticket. These are what we needed to leave the lot. So, we couldn’t leave the lot. I searched through my purse and the backpack and the glove box and everywhere and I could not find this small, important, blue piece of paper.

 

I had the receipt they had given us, so I had proof that we had paid for the parking, but that was not good enough. I had to run back to the booth at the entrance and ask for a new blue ticket. The lady at this booth pulled some random blue ticket out of her pants pocket and gave it to me. Not what I would expect of something so important. I brought it back to the exit booth and they finally let us out of there. Yes, I can keep track of 10 people and their belongings in three different cabins on a ship that visits three different foreign ports, but small blue pieces of paper - I guess not :)

 

Two days later I found those all-important small blue and green tickets buried in my wallet next to the credit card we used to pay for our parking. The credit card that the lady had touched after having her hands in her mouth. We were so concerned about it that we weren’t paying too much attention to the important/not important blue and green tickets.

 

We made it home safely and the unpacking/laundry began. I’m still trying to recover laundry-wise!

 

 

 

Thanks for reading my trip report everyone! It’s been a fun way to relive our trip and go through our pictures. If you have any questions please ask and I will do my best to answer them!

 

 

Up Next: Final Thoughts

 

[lemonade-sails]

You are the only person that I have seen that has done the jewelry making class. Did you like it? How much did it cost? Was it wire jewelry, or just elastic with beads? Did you think it was worth it? Were there many other children or was it mostly adults? I have 10,10, and 12 year old girls that I think would enjoy it, they are very crafty, but I see that yours is older, so not sure if it's appropriate for them. Thanks for any input.

 

Hi! The class was free. It was a combination of wire jewelry - the necklace had a chain and wire connectors, and elastic - the bracelet. There were also earrings, but my daughter's ears are not pierced so we didn't stay for that part. The daughter that went with me is 11 and she is crafty and likes to make jewelry at home so I do think it was worth it. There were all women/girls there. Maybe one other daughter and mom pair and also a couple of older ladies. Not that many people to begin with.

 

There was a kit with the equipment needed to make the jewelry. It was confusing at first because we showed up a bit late, but we were able to follow the directions and catch up to everyone else.

 

The kit:

 

The bracelet:

 

The necklace:

 

Two minutes after we left the workshop my daughters necklace broke and the beads went everywhere. I don't know how it broke but it could be that I didn't squeeze the little connector well enough. I gave her my necklace and it has held up.

 

I would do this again.

Edited January 20, 2015 by lemonade-sails

[mickev99]

Thanks for letting me know. We didn't get a chance to do it on the freedom last June, so I hope it's offered on Indy in July! And by the way, I can't believe you've had 8 children, you look absolutely amazing!!! What a fun review to read!

 

 

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[gowensricks]

I just wanted to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed your review! I was telling my mother about it over the weekend, as I was so impressed with how you "kept it all together" throughout this fabulous vacation. I am sure that it is a vacation that your children will always remember.

[usckatieh]

You are the only person that I have seen that has done the jewelry making class. Did you like it? How much did it cost? Was it wire jewelry, or just elastic with beads? Did you think it was worth it? Were there many other children or was it mostly adults? I have 10,10, and 12 year old girls that I think would enjoy it, they are very crafty, but I see that yours is older, so not sure if it's appropriate for them. Thanks for any input.

 

 

FYI- I tried to do the jewelry class with my 7 yr old daughter on the Freedom too and the lady running ours said no children were allowed and we were 2 of the 3 people that were there for the class. We were pretty disappointed so you may want to check with the activities person just in case yours was strict like ours. That's ok though- we had a great time at the watercolors class!

[californiacruising]

We were on this cruise. It was a delight to see your family interact with each other. Your kids are so well behaved and seemed to have so much fun. Such great memories for all of you. Your youngest son has such an infectious smile. He chatted with me about his stuffed animal which he renamed "blackie and bluey". Made my day since I was missing our grandkids.

 

Great review with lots of tips.

 

Ellen

[mickev99]

FYI- I tried to do the jewelry class with my 7 yr old daughter on the Freedom too and the lady running ours said no children were allowed and we were 2 of the 3 people that were there for the class. We were pretty disappointed so you may want to check with the activities person just in case yours was strict like ours. That's ok though- we had a great time at the watercolors class!

 

 

Thanks, I will check into it if it's offered. I could take my 12 year old, but the 3 of them are pretty tight and like to be together most of the time.

 

 

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[toosaxykk]

Thank you so much for posting. I enjoyed all of it.